The First 3 Videos Every Business Should Make (And Where Each One Goes)

by | Mar 23, 2026 | Blue Tie Productions - Blogs | 0 comments

Videos every business should make first

Most businesses don’t fail at video because they made the wrong video. They fail because they made video without a plan — and then wondered why nothing happened.

If you’ve been sitting on the sideline asking yourself, “What videos should we actually make first?”, this is the answer you’ve been looking for. Not a list of 40 ideas. Not a theory about content funnels. The first 3 videos every business should make — and exactly where each one goes.

This isn’t about what’s trendy. It’s about what works strategically, whether you’re a construction company in La Crosse, a marketing team in Minneapolis, a small business in Milwaukee, or an orchestra in Madison looking to fill more seats.

Contents hide
1 Why Most Businesses Get Video Backwards
2 The Framework: Stop Thinking in Videos, Start Thinking in Strategy
3 Video #1: The Brand Story Video
4 Why the Brand Story Video Works
5 Where the Brand Story Video Lives
6 Video #2: The Customer Testimonial Video
7 Why the Customer Testimonial Video Works
8 Where the Customer Testimonial Video Lives
9 Video #3: The Short-Form Social Video
10 Why Short-Form Social Video Works
11 Where Short-Form Social Video Lives
12 How These 3 Videos Work Together as a System
13 What This Looks Like in the Real World
14 Your Next Step

Why Most Businesses Get Video Backwards

Here’s the pattern I see constantly: a business decides it needs video, they pick up the phone and call a production company, and the conversation immediately jumps to shooting. What day works? What location? How long should it be?

Those are the wrong first questions.

The right first questions are: What do you actually need? Who needs to see it? Where does it live? What changes if this video works?

Most businesses start with a camera. We start with a strategy. Because a beautifully shot video placed in the wrong place — or made for the wrong purpose — is just an expensive mistake.

The 3 videos we’re about to walk through aren’t random. They’re the foundation that every business needs before anything else makes sense. Each one solves a specific problem. Each one lives in a specific place. And together, they create a system that moves people from stranger to sold.

The Framework: Stop Thinking in Videos, Start Thinking in Strategy

Before you make a single video, answer these 4 questions:

  • What’s the goal? Awareness? Trust? Conversion? Recruitment?

  • Who’s the audience? Prospective customers? Referral partners? New hires?

  • Where does it live? Website? LinkedIn? Sales deck? Email signature?

  • What counts as a win? More calls? Longer time on site? Better hires?

Your answers determine everything — the format, the length, the tone, and the call-to-action. These 3 videos cover the most common answers for most businesses starting out. They’re not the only videos you’ll ever make. They’re the ones that make everything else more effective.

Video #1: The Brand Story Video

What it is: A 1–3 minute video that answers the question every prospect is silently asking: “Why should I trust you?”

This isn’t a product demo. It isn’t a highlight reel. It’s the video that shows who you are, why you exist, and what it actually looks and feels like to work with your company. It’s the difference between being a name on a website and being a business someone genuinely wants to call.

Who needs this most:

  • Construction companies trying to stand out from competitors who all look the same online

  • Marketing teams who need a central video asset they can use across every channel

  • Small businesses that rely on trust and reputation to win clients

  • Orchestras and arts organizations that need to convert casual interest into ticket buyers and donors

Think of the brand story video as your most important first impression. It’s the video that does the selling before you ever get on a call.

Why the Brand Story Video Works

It builds trust faster than any other format. People retain 95% of information from video, compared to just 10% from text. That means your website page about your team’s values is doing one-tenth the work your brand story video would do in the same two minutes.

It shortens the sales cycle. When a prospective client watches your brand story video before your first call, they already understand who you are. They arrive curious, not skeptical. The conversation shifts from “prove you’re credible” to “let’s talk scope.”

It answers the question nobody asks out loud. Every prospect — whether they’re a GC evaluating your construction company or a donor considering your orchestra — is asking the same thing: Is this organization worth my time and money? Your brand story answers that question before anyone has to ask.

Adding video to a website landing page can boost conversions by up to 80%. That’s not magic. That’s your story doing its job.

Where the Brand Story Video Lives

This is where most businesses leave money on the table. They make the video, post it once, and wait. That’s not a strategy.

Here’s where your brand story video should be working:

  • Homepage hero — The first thing visitors see when they land. Lead with your story, not your tagline.

  • About page — Replace a wall of text with a 2-minute video that says everything better.

  • Sales presentations and proposals — Send it before calls. Let it do the introduction.

  • LinkedIn profile and posts — Especially powerful for B2B businesses, trades companies, and cultural organizations.

  • Email signature — Every email you send becomes a touchpoint.

  • Discovery call follow-ups — After a great conversation, send it to reinforce credibility.

  • Recruitment pages — Show candidates what it’s like to work there before they ever apply.

One brand story video can serve 7 or 8 different jobs. That’s real leverage on a single investment.

Video #2: The Customer Testimonial Video

What it is: A 60–90 second video featuring a real customer sharing their experience with your business, in their own words.

Not a written quote on your website. Not a star rating on Google. An actual person, on camera, talking about the problem they had and how you solved it.

This is the most underused video in the toolkit — and it’s the one that often converts the best.

Who needs this most:

  • Any business where trust is the primary barrier to the sale (which is most businesses)

  • Construction companies where prospects are nervous about choosing the wrong contractor

  • Professional service firms where clients are betting on your judgment, not just your deliverable

  • Orchestras and nonprofits where donors need to feel confident their investment matters

Why the Customer Testimonial Video Works

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Prospects don’t fully trust what you say about yourself. They trust what your customers say.

Nine out of ten people trust what a customer says about a business more than what the business says about itself. That’s not a knock on your credibility — that’s just how humans are wired. We look to people like us for proof before we commit.

Video testimonials take that principle and amplify it. Watching a real person on camera removes every doubt a written review leaves open. Is the quote real? Did they actually have that experience? Is this the kind of person I relate to? Video answers all of those questions at once.

The numbers back this up. 79% of people have watched a video testimonial to learn more about a company before buying. Brands using testimonials on their product or service pages see a 34% increase in conversion rates on average. And 88% of consumers trust video testimonials as much as a personal recommendation from a friend or family member.

That last one is worth sitting with. A stranger on camera — talking about your company honestly — carries the same weight as a recommendation from someone’s inner circle. That’s the power of authentic video social proof.

Where the Customer Testimonial Video Lives

Placement strategy matters here just as much as production quality. Here’s where testimonials work hardest:

  • Services pages — Right below the description of the service, positioned to answer the prospect’s hesitation before they bounce.

  • Homepage — Alongside or just below your brand story video, to reinforce trust immediately.

  • Proposal documents and pitch decks — Drop one in before you ask for the decision.

  • Google Business Profile — Underused by almost every local business.

  • Email nurture sequences — After a prospect inquires, send a testimonial video to deepen confidence before the follow-up call.

  • Social media — A great testimonial clip performs well on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram — especially in B2B markets and local markets like La Crosse, Rochester, and Madison.

One tactical tip: Testimonials work best when the customer in the video looks like your ideal prospect. A construction company owner is more persuasive to another construction company owner than a generic satisfied customer. Match your testimonial subject to your target audience.

Video #3: The Short-Form Social Video

What it is: A 15–60 second video designed for social media — optimized for vertical viewing, designed to stop the scroll, and built to remind your audience that you exist.

This is not the same as your brand story video. It’s not trying to do everything. It’s trying to do one thing well: keep you visible.

Short-form social video is your distribution system. It’s the consistent drumbeat that keeps your name, face, and work in front of the people who will eventually need you.

Who needs this most:

  • Every business. Without exception.

Why Short-Form Social Video Works

Here’s the reality of how buying decisions actually happen in 2026: most of them are made before anyone reaches out to you.

A construction company owner in Milwaukee sees your crew working on a project in a 30-second Instagram clip. Three months later, when they need a subcontractor, your name comes to mind. Not because your ad hit them at the right moment — because you’ve been in their feed consistently for months.

That’s the familiarity principle, and short-form video is the most efficient tool for building it.

Short-form video now accounts for 38% of all social media ad spend, and brands using it report a 41% lower cost-per-acquisition compared to those relying primarily on other formats. 31% of marketers rank it as their single highest-ROI content format — a 10-point jump in just one year.

But here’s what the data doesn’t tell you: the businesses winning with short-form video aren’t posting randomly. They’re consistent. They’re on-brand. And they’re posting content that actually serves their audience — not just content that fills a calendar.

Where Short-Form Social Video Lives

Short-form is platform-native content. It belongs on:

  • Instagram Reels — High reach, high engagement, strong for local and regional businesses

  • Facebook — Still the primary platform for many trades companies and regional businesses in markets like La Crosse and the broader Midwest

  • LinkedIn — Especially effective for B2B companies, professional services, and construction firms targeting commercial clients

  • YouTube Shorts — Increasingly valuable for SEO and discovery

What to post:

  • Before-and-after project clips (construction, landscaping, events)

  • Quick tips your audience actually needs

  • Behind-the-scenes moments from your team or job site

  • Short customer reaction moments (not scripted testimonials — real reactions)

  • Process videos that show what “working with you” looks like

  • Culture moments that show what kind of company you are

Check out our Social Media Video Packages.

How These 3 Videos Work Together as a System

Here’s the mistake businesses make when they understand all three of these videos: they treat them as separate projects. They’re not. They’re a system.

Think of it this way:

Video Job Where It Lives When It Works
Brand Story Build trust and credibility Website, sales deck, LinkedIn When someone is evaluating you
Testimonial Remove doubt and confirm social proof Service pages, proposals, email When someone is close to deciding
Short-Form Social Build familiarity and stay visible Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook Ongoing — keeps you top of mind

Short-form pulls people in. It creates awareness and recognition. It keeps your name in circulation.

Brand story deepens the relationship. When someone who’s seen your social content lands on your website, your brand story is what moves them from curious to interested.

Testimonials close the gap. When someone is close to reaching out but not quite there, a real customer saying “here’s what it was like to work with them” is the last piece of evidence they need.

Remove any one of these and the system has a hole. A brand story without social distribution reaches almost nobody. Social content without a brand story creates no depth. Testimonials without either context or traffic have no stage to perform on.

All three together? That’s how you move from overlooked to unmistakable.

What This Looks Like in the Real World

Let’s make this concrete. Take a mid-size construction company in the La Crosse or Minneapolis area.

Their problem: They do excellent work. They’ve been in business for 15 years. But every new prospect treats them like a stranger — same questions, same hesitations, same comparison process against competitors who aren’t any better.

The video system they need:

  1. Brand story video — 90 seconds. Shows the founder on a job site, crew working, finished projects, and the company’s philosophy on quality and communication. Lives on the homepage and the company’s LinkedIn profile. Sent in every proposal email.

  2. Customer testimonial video — 60 seconds. A general contractor talks about a project, the timeline, and why they’d hire again. Lives on the commercial construction services page. Posted on LinkedIn monthly.

  3. Short-form social content — 20–30 second clips, posted 2–3 times per week. Project walkthroughs. Team moments. Quick clips from active job sites. Drone footage of completed projects.

The result: Prospects arrive at discovery calls already familiar with the company’s work and culture. Trust is pre-established. The conversation gets to scope and timeline faster. Close rates improve. Referral quality improves because the company looks credible online.

That’s the compound effect of video done strategically. Not one amazing video that sits on a server. A system that works continuously.

Your Next Step

If you’re starting from zero, here’s the exact order of operations:

  1. Make your brand story video first. It’s your foundation. Everything else is harder to do well without it.

  2. Capture 1–2 customer testimonial videos at the end of your next successful project. Don’t wait for the “perfect” client — start with a satisfied one.

  3. Start posting short-form social content. Consistently. Even simple clips from your phone build more momentum than waiting for perfect production.

If you already have a brand story video but it hasn’t been working, the problem is usually placement or distribution — not the video itself. Before you reshoot anything, audit where the video is actually living and who’s actually seeing it.

If you’re not sure where to start, that’s exactly what we help figure out. A 30-minute discovery call isn’t a sales pitch. It’s a real conversation about what your business actually needs — and whether video is the right move right now.

The best work in the world goes unseen every single day. Your business, your team, your work — it deserves to be seen properly.

Schedule your free discovery call at bluetieproductions.com/contact-discovery-meeting/

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